25 September 2010

Earlier I reported on the New IDSA-CFR Paper Proposing a Joint Space Solar Power Program:
http://www.idsa.in/occasionalpapers/SkysNoLimit_pgarretson_2010

http://www.cfr.org/publication/22918/skys_no_limit.html
And that it had been endorsed by the National Space Society:
http://www.nss.org/news/releases/pr20100913.pdf
I had also re-posted several articles reviewing the paper:
"India-US space-based solar power programme urged" which occurred across a number of news outlets across India, and "India-US space-based solar power plan could solve major energy issues - study" from ADP news, and "Making the Case An Indo-USA Space-Based Solar Power Programme"

A report published by an Indian Defense ministry-backed think tank has proposed the establishment of an Indo –US international space-based solar energy program. Is this ever happens it could well become the second most important deal inked by the two nations ever since the signing of the nuclear deal. The project envisages the establishment of solar collectors in geostationary orbit to collect solar radiation throughout the year even during the night. The energy laden microwaves would then be transmitted to ground based collectors. If initiated the path breaking could become a commercially viable business venture by 2025.

The massive project holds great significance for both countries apart from taking their strategic relationship forward. Both the countries have gigantic energy needs and are under immense international pressure to own up and reduce their carbon emissions. Fortunately both are blessed in terms of solar energy sources which all the more sense why they seriously work on the project.

A report published by an Indian Defense ministry-backed think tank has proposed for the establishment of an international space-based solar energy program with India and the United States initiating this massive project. The report is prepared by Peter Garretson, a US Air Force lieutenant colonel, working with the Institue of Defense Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. The reports calls for the Indian and the United States’ governments to extend their strategic partnerships to initiate this pathbreaking project and make the space-based solar energy a commercially viable business venture by 2025.

The report proposes that the two countries should wait no more and kick start the project through a joint statement during President Obama’s visit to India in November. The author of the report has proposed a three-tiered approach for the implementation of the program.

Expanding on the three-stage plan, Garretson says an initial five-year $10-30 million programme will develop contributing technologies and build a competent work force culminating in a roadmap for a demonstration prototype.

A second, $10 billion, 10-year phase will see the formation of an international consortium to construct a sub-scale space solar power system that can directly be scaled up by industry. The final stage will entail India-US leadership to set up an international for-profit consortium along the lines of the INTELSAT model to address energy security and carbon mitigation concerns.

Energy and Climate Change

Both India and the United States are among the top five greenhouse gas emitters in the world. Both are under immense pressure to curb their carbon emissions production. While India is being pressurized to cut back on its carbon emissions resulting from its rapidly growing industrial and power sector, the United States is constantly being reminded of its historical responsibility to reduce its carbon emissions.

India needs to expand its power generation capacity in order to maintain a high economic growth rate and improve the living standards of its billion plus population. While India is immensely blessed in terms of solar energy resources, the problem land availability to execute large-scale solar energy power plants is one of the major hurdles in a comprehensive solar energy infrastructure expansion.

Space-based solar power, therefore, seems to be a great choice for India. Space-based solar collectors placed in a geostationary orbit can collect solar radiation for 99 percent time of the year and even during the night. This radiation would be then transmitted to ground-based collectors in the form of microwaves. These microwaves would have far more energy than the normal radiation we receive on the earth’s surface.

Strategic Advantage

Such a project can reap tremendous scientific and strategic benefits for both the countries. India is an emerging global power especially in Asia, looking to counter China’s increasing influence and might in the region. United States is desperately looking for new partners in Asia as Japan seems no longer capable of countering China’s increasing economic, military and strategic prowess.

The Catch

The author of the report has specified that in order to ensure the successful execution of this ambitious program India would have to sign the Missile Technology Control Regime which prevents the proliferation of missile technology. India has thus far refused to sign the MTCR. Perhaps, realizing the strategic and energy-related advantages of this projects the two countries can work out a solution similar to the Indo-US nuclear deal which gave India access to nuclear fuel and technology even though it is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

India and the United States have long history of space science cooperation. The United States helped the Indian Space Research Organization to help launch some of India’s earliest satellites in 1970s. Earlier this year, the two countries signed a historic agreement allowing ISRO to launch non-commercial, US-made satellites. It was NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper riding on India’s first unmanned moon orbiter, Chandryaan-1, that detected the presence of water ice on the moon in 2009.

Image: NASA

The views presented in the above article are author’s personal views and do not represent those of TERI/TERI University where the author is currently pursuing a Master’s degree.

From: http://www.hollywoodissues.com/tag/council

Missile Man of India: Latest News Updates India and the US should explore the feasibility of a space-based solar power (SBSP) programme with the ultimate aim of putting in place a commercially viable system by 2025, a report by a defence ministry funded think tank says.There is, however, a catch. India would first have to accede to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) before the system is put in place, says the report that has been prepared by Peter Garretson, a US Air Force lieutenant colonel on a sabbatical as an international fellow at the New Delhi-based Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA).
Noting that SBSP can be ‘the next major step in the Indo-US strategic partnership’, the 174-page report says the launch of such a potentially revolutionary programme can begin with a joint statement by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barak Obama during the latter’s visit to New Delhi in November.
Besides helping to ’solve the linked problems of energy security, development and climate change’, the SBSP will provide an opportunity for India to use its successful space programme while shaping a future peaceful space regime, Garretson said.
He has proposed a three-tiered programme, moving from basic technology and capacity building to a multi-lateral demonstrator and ultimately to an international commercial public-private-partnership entity to supply commercial power in the 2025 timeframe.
The report concludes that SBSP ‘does appear to be a good fit for the US domestic, Indian domestic and bilateral agendas, and there are adequate political space and precursor agreements to begin a bilateral program’.
Expanding on the three-stage plan, Garretson says an initial five-year $10-30 million programme will develop contributing technologies and build a competent work force culminating in a roadmap for a demonstration prototype.
A second, $10 billion, 10-year phase will see the formation of an international consortium to construct a sub-scale space solar power system that can directly be scaled up by industry. The final stage will entail India-US leadership to set up an international for-profit consortium along the lines of the INTELSAT model to address energy security and carbon mitigation concerns.
‘The overall program goal must be to enable, by 2025, space-based solar power as a viable economic replacement for fossil fuel energy, and second, to position the US and Indian technical and industrial bases to enjoy a competitive edge in what is expected to be a significant and profitable market,’ the report says.
Garretson says that the US and India have demonstrated via a number of recent steps that they are ready for a deeper partnership, inclusive of sensitive and strategic technology in space and energy.
‘An international SBSP demo project is within reach of present engineering and mega science budgets, and can be done with existing launch vehicles,’ he says.
From the US side, the programme can be managed out of the Department of State’s Office of Ocean Environment and Science with funds coming from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy. On the Indian side, the report says, the high-level oversight can be provided by the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change.
According to the report, such a programme linking the technical bases of the world’s largest democracies might be a way out of India’s (and the world’s) climate-energy dilemma.‘It will also become one of the grandest and most ambitious humanitarian and environmentalist causes that will be sure to excite a generation as did the Apollo program that put a man on the moon,’ the report says.

New Report Asks US and India to Take Solar Energy Into Space
JustmeansPublished on Date September 21st, 2010 by Justmeans
Posted in Category Asia-Pacific, Category North America, Category Solar
Several months ago, I mentioned the Shimizu Corporation’s plan to place solar panels on the moon to generate renewable energy that would be transferred back to Earth and distributed along power lines. Shimizu Corporation’s hope was that they could begin working on their project sometime in 2020 when Japan planned to have a solar powered base upon the moon. Now, a plan coming out of India is suggesting that it is time for India and the United States to form a partnership that would allow them to begin developing a program for space solar power.

The report pushing for space based solar energy was published by a think tank that is being supported by the Indian Defense Ministry with the aid of one Lieutenant Colonel Peter Garretson of the United States Air Force. The report lays out a three step plan that would have India and the United States entered into a commercial energy business venture that would be generating large quantities of solar energy from installations placed in orbit around the Earth. The first stage, according to the report, details how an investment of $10 – $30 million over the course of five years would be required to develop the technology required for both the satellites and the means in which to deliver them to space. The second step would see a further investment of nearly $10 billion over the course of ten years as the two countries developed a system to retrieve and sell the power on a commercial and industrial scale. The final scale would have the two countries establishing what the report calls an “international for-profit consortium … to address energy security and carbon mitigation concerns.” This would result in a fully realized program, ideally, by 2025.

The research and the proposed program for solar energy are mired in a variety of political obstacles. While the creation of a large scale solar program like this would go far in aiding India in cutting down on carbon emissions without taking up already precious city space they would be required to sign the Missile Technology Control Regime treaty. The agreement, which was signed in 1987 by several nations to prevent the proliferation of missile technology, has long been refused by India. The report also indicates that it would be necessary to coordinate their efforts with the United Nations and other countries in order to prepare for the increased amount of travel that would be going to and from Earth as a consequence of initiating this program. Though the political issues remain, the people involved are confident they would be easy to remedy and are optimistic that an agreement can be made between India and the United States regarding this program in November when President Obama plans to meet with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Though some may be concerned that tossing more satellites into Earth’s orbit would be contributing to the already crowded situation going on up there, the fact remains that this would be a considerable leap forward for solar energy. Taking solar energy collection into space also presents an ideal alternative to countries like India or Japan who are faced with the obstacle of limited space within their nations for the construction of vast solar farms. With any luck, the next news we may hear about this project may come in November during the aforementioned visit.

An Indian Defense Ministry-backed report suggests a joint US$10 billion (€7.65 billion) Indian-US space based solar power generation program would be good for political relations as well as reducing greenhouse gases. US Air Force lieutenant colonel Peter Garretson, in conjunction with the Institute of Defense Studies, New Delhi (India), wrote a report recommending the Indian and US governments forge a strategic partnership to make space-based solar energy commercially viable by 2025. President Obama’s November visit to India may be the venue to announce the partnership.

The proposal is to have a five year pre-program development program, costing US$10-30 million (€7.65 - €22.96 million) to eliminate risk and to identify the advanced technology needed for the project. Followed by a US$10 billion (€7.65 billion), ten year international project to design, manufacture, and launch an orbital solar power generation system.

Since India and the US are both major greenhouse gas emitters, developing technology that will reduce their emissions is seen as a progressive approach to dealing with climate change. India has great solar power potential but scarce land areas to implement it, while the US would like to be a world leader in the renewable energy and, being a late entrant in the field, needs to play catch up.

A space-based system therefore seems to fit into the plans of both countries. For India, it is a potential major international step up, and a great opportunity to grow in stature in Asia, and counter China’s growing influence. Unfortunately, politics always gets in the way, and India has yet to sign the Missile Technology Control Regime, meant to prevent the spread of missile technology. The US is concerned about the spread of nuclear weapons technology (such as from Pakistan to North Korea) and nuclear weapons delivery systems.

In a world facing great uncertainty due to the causes, effects and consequences of global climate change, it seems the last thing that we need is to add in global politics that are likely to muddy the waters and likely add greater risk of projects failing to deliver on their clean energy promises.

Bengaluru, Sep 14 India and the U.S. should explore the feasibility of a space-based solar power (SBSP) programme with the ultimate aim of putting in place a commercially viable system by 2025, a report by a Defence Ministry funded think tank says.

There is, however, a catch. India would first have to accede to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) before the system is put in place, says the report that has been prepared by Peter Garretson, a US Air Force lieutenant colonel on a sabbatical as an international fellow at the New Delhi-based Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA).

Noting that SBSP can be "the next major step in the Indo-US strategic partnership", the 174-page report says the launch of such a potentially revolutionary programme can begin with a joint statement by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and U.S. President Barak Obama during the latter's visit to New Delhi in November.

Besides helping to "solve the linked problems of energy security, development and climate change", the SBSP will provide an opportunity for India to use its successful space programme while shaping a future peaceful space regime, Garretson said.

He has proposed a three-tiered programme, moving from basic technology and capacity building to a multi-lateral demonstrator and ultimately to an international commercial public-private-partnership entity to supply commercial power in the 2025 timeframe.

The report concludes that SBSP "does appear to be a good fit for the U.S. domestic, Indian domestic and bilateral agendas, and there are adequate political space and precursor agreements to begin a bilateral programme".

Expanding on the three-stage plan, Garretson says an initial five-year $10-30 million programme will develop contributing technologies and build a competent work force culminating in a roadmap for a demonstration prototype.

A second, $10 billion, 10-year phase will see the formation of an international consortium to construct a sub-scale space solar power system that can directly be scaled up by industry. The final stage will entail India-US leadership to set up an international for-profit consortium along the lines of the INTELSAT model to address energy security and carbon mitigation concerns.

"The overall program goal must be to enable, by 2025, space-based solar power as a viable economic replacement for fossil fuel energy, and second, to position the US and Indian technical and industrial bases to enjoy a competitive edge in what is expected to be a significant and profitable market," the report says.

Garretson says that the U.S. and India have demonstrated via a number of recent steps that they are ready for a deeper partnership, inclusive of sensitive and strategic technology in space and energy.

"An international SBSP demo project is within reach of present engineering and mega science budgets, and can be done with existing launch vehicles," he says.

From the US side, the programme can be managed out of the Department of State's Office of Ocean Environment and Science with funds coming from the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy. On the Indian side, the report says, the high-level oversight can be provided by the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change.

According to the report, such a programme linking the technical bases of the world's largest democracies might be a way out of India's (and the world's) climate-energy dilemma.

"It will also become one of the grandest and most ambitious humanitarian and environmentalist causes that will be sure to excite a generation as did the Apollo program that put a man on the moon," the report says.

"If there is a desire to pursue simultaneous development of low cost access to orbit, then the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) assurance document must be signed (by India)," the report says.

India has thus far resolutely declined to sign the MTCR, terming it discriminatory.

It is also important that direct engagement with United Nations governance bodies will be required, even before the demonstration stage, "to cope with the significantly increased traffic to and from and in space", the report says.

From: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://www.bnrenergia.it/leggi_news.asp%3Fid%3D1208&ei=CxWeTLuWOsKBlAfK94CnCg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CEUQ7gEwBg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dindia%2BUS%2Bspace%2Bsolar%2Bpower%2Bsite:.it%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3D4iC%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26tbs%3Dqdr:mIndia and U.S., the future rulers of the photovoltaic space?

A new brick could be added to the long history of scientific cooperation between two of the biggest polluters in the world. A report published by the Indian Ministry of Defence suggests that the two countries can pave the way for a program to use solar energy in orbit
(Rinnovabili.it) - A great opportunity for collaboration and growth in the energy is introduced to India and the U.S. to jointly launch a program to capture solar energy in space to be transformed into a commercially viable by 2025 . To support and the report compiled by Peter Garretson, a U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel who worked in collaboration with the Institute for Research and Defense Analysis in New Delhi.
The report calls on the governments of both countries to extend their strategic partnership, already well proven in the field of an astronaut on a pioneering project to harness the solar energy in space. A program that dell'SBSP (Space-Based Solar Power), truly revolutionary not only for bilateral relations between India and the United States but for all the objectives of energy security, supply and fight against Climate Change in it. Both, in fact, affected by the pressure from several fronts on the production of greenhouse gas emissions and seek new and innovative sources of clean energy supply has become the 'gold rush' of these yearsThe authors are also firmly convinced that the program provides the opportunity to win New Delhi to move forward in its perpetual competition with China.
The idea contained in 174 pages is that which is already the currency
Japan

Pacific Gas & Electric Pacific Gas & ElectricPosition in geostationary orbit solar collectors can gather solar radiation, 24 h 24 h with an efficiency much higher than the unitary ground installations, and then be sent back to earth via microwaves.Garretson proposes a three-level, through the development of technology demonstrator based on a multi-lateral, to the creation of an international body based on a public-private partnership for commercial energy supply by the year 2025.
For the Asian giant, however, there is an obstacle, well outlined in the report, the failure to adhere to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) - India considered discriminatory -, however, a delicate issue at the international level. Once approved, the MTCR, the author explains, the operation of the program would require "only" an initial funding in the order of 10-30 million dollars to cover a period of 5 years and 10 billion dollars for the next decade .

Allies in a big program calendar to be launched into space by 2025. . E 'can be the result of a technical partnership to address eco friendly between India and U.S. , and which would, in fifteen years, creating a system of commercial exploitation of space photovoltaics .
He informed these days, a report conducted by Peter Garretson , Lieutenant-Colonel 's U.S. Air Force, who worked together to' study for the Institute for Defense Analyses and New Delhi, on the development a joint project between the two powers. More specifically, the report indicates a request to be made to both governments (India and the USA) to verify the conditions for the extension of a partnership in exploiting the ' solar energy in space for which has already been identified Name: SBSP ( Space-Based Solar Power ).

On a technical level, the project includes the placement of solar collectors in geostationary orbit, which are able to capture the sun's radiation, and send them to Earth via a microwave system. The procurement, in that case, would be constant (24 hours out of 24) and lead to significantly higher efficiency when compared with terrestrial plants.

This would be an extension of the strategic alliance already in place in the field of aerospace, and which - if implemented - could prove to be innovative in the political relationship between the U.S. and India, and for the purposes ecologic and contained in the report: in it, In fact, we speak of the need for energy security of supply and climate change all "voices" to which both countries should take into account. If for no other reason than the economic aspect of the matter: the field of research and development in renewable energy is the most important frontier in the economy in recent years.

The "Indian side," however, will be prejudiced by not adhering to the Missile Technology Control Plan (MTCR - Missile Technology Control Regime), India believes that it is discriminatory and that, internationally, an issue to be addressed carefully.

Lieutenant Colonel Garretson, however, assumed - once past this obstacle - even the need for financial supply for the project: a first tranche of funding (albeit nebulous, since it indicates an amount ranging from 10 to 30 million dollars) for the first 5 years, and a second appropriation (listed in the $ 10 billion) would cover the next decade.

The 2010 U.S. National Space Policy, which supports a robust and competitive commercial space sector, is good news for those of us working to design and launch the new types of satellites that will collect solar energy in space and deliver it to Earth as a nonpolluting source of electrical power.

Among the goals of President Barack Obama’s National Space Policy is expansion of international cooperation on mutually beneficial space activities to “broaden and extend the benefits of space” and “further the peaceful use of space.”

As members of the National Space Society, the Society of Satellite Professionals International and the Space Energy Group, we believe space, as a shared resource, can best be explored and developed by a partnership of nations and businesses working together.

Since acquiring clean and abundant energy is a common requirement for economic growth and an eventual necessity for the health of all societies, harvesting space solar power is a logical human endeavor when the high frontier is precisely where energy is most plentiful. But achieving success doing large-scale commercial innovation in outer space requires long-range planning, pooling of financial resources, sharing of knowledge and expertise, and the careful framing of a way forward that will earn and sustain the public trust.

In naming the CEOs who will serve on his new advisory board on trade issues, Obama noted in July that the U.S. is on track to double exports in the next five years, and he pointed to some of the ways the American economy is being repositioned to better compete abroad. When adding that announcement to the outcomes of the June summit of the Group of 20 major industrial countries in Canada and recent federal policy statements intimating that (certain) export controls will be relaxed and cooperation in space will be encouraged, it would appear that the U.S. could be entering a new era of openness for international business.

To this end, we would like to see some greater leadership and support given to space solar power development by NASA and the U.S. departments of Energy and Commerce. A helpful first step would be a U.S.-led space solar power feasibility study to which all interested nations are invited to contribute.

In the context of the U.S. National Space Policy, such a feasibility study could lead the way in assessing and promoting “appropriate cost and risk sharing among participating nations in international partnerships.” It would demonstrate U.S. “tangible leadership in space,” leveraging the capabilities of allies while assuring continuing adherence to the U.N. Treaty on Exploration and Use of Outer Space — now signed by 125 states, including China and India — that dictates “nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction” shall not be placed in outer space.

At the International Space Development Conference held in Chicago in May, multiple nations participated in a National Space Society-initiated Solar Power Symposium to examine in depth opportunities and challenges for energy generation in near space. Former Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, scientist, aeronautical engineer and proponent of space solar power, addressing the symposium via videoconference, spoke to the need for international cooperation in space. He proposed a multilateral global initiative that could map out for us what needs to be done to bring space solar power to operational reality.

From our perspective, space solar power is a meaningful science, engineering and commercial challenge that deserves our attention and investment. In the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, we think it is time for the U.S. to put space solar power on our national energy agenda. At the same time, we must seek opportunities to learn from and participate with Canada, China, India, Japan, the European Union and others taking their first tentative steps to bring space solar energy to Earth.

In a June Times of India commentary on strategic international diplomacy, U.S. Sen. John Kerry expressed support for a partnership with India that would include “the quest for new technologies and fresh ideas for economically viable ways to speed the shift to renewable energy sources.”

We believe that within the mainstream of global science, engineering and environmental management there are game-changing ideas and technologies that await testing. It is time to see some space solar power demonstration projects. Of all the possible alternative energy sources on the near horizon,we believe space solar power is our best chance for addressing the worldwide challenges of climate change, renewable energy and continued economic growth.

__________

Don Flournoy is a professor and editor of the Online Journal of Space Communication (www.spacejournal.org) at Ohio University. This article also reflects the opinions of Robert Bell of the Society of Satellite Professionals International, Mark Hopkins of the National Space Society, Stephan Tennsel of Space Energy AG, and Feng Hsu of the Space Energy Group.

(ADPnews) - Sep 14, 2010 - A space-based solar power (SBSP) programme developed by India and the US could solve the energy security and climate change issues, according to a report by US Air Force lieutenant colonel Peter Garretson.

Garretson, who is on a sabbatical as an international fellow at the institute for defence studies and analyses in New Delhi, considers that the two countries should conduct a feasibility analysis on such a programme, whose aim will be to replace fossil fuel energy with SBSP by 2025. However, in order to work on such a plan, India should first sign the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) document, which the country declined to do earlier, deeming it discriminatory.

In his report, Garretson has included a three-phase plan, which starts with an initial five-year programme costing USD 10 million to USD 30 million for the development of contributing technologies and competent workforce. It is followed by a USD-10-billion investment in the construction of a sub-scale space solar power system over a 10-year period. The concluding stage envisages the establishment of an Indian-US consortium to face energy security and carbon mitigation issues.

Such a SBSP programme could be managed by the US Department of State's Office of Ocean Environment and Science and the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Changein India, according to Garretson's report.

I had a rude awakening this evening. What began as a casual journey into India's space programme -- the reasons will be apparent momentarily -- ended with the sobering realization that along with the sub-continent's explosive economic growth and the rise of the middle class, also comes the apparent need to flex its political muscles militarily in the form of nuclear submarines -- the first launched last year with more on order -- tactical transport aircraft jointly developed with the Russians, and even their own armada of aircraft carriers. And then there's their plan to send men to the moon by 2016.

I've been reading Peter Garretson's 2009 research paper for Indian Defense Studies and Analysis entitled, "Sky's No Limit: Space-based Solar Power, The Next Major Step in the Indo-US Strategic Partnership?" It is a heavily footnoted document of some 174 pages and six appendices. In it, Garretson makes the case that the next step in the United States and India's strategic relationship should be establishment of a "big policy" programme (I'll use the British spelling) to put solar power generation systems in earth orbit. While the paper doesn't go into the technological issues, it does focus on the policy implementation barriers of such a collaboration.

Of course, as a parochial American with only a passing knowledge of Indian food -- which I love -- and Bollywood movies -- which I also find highly entertaining as long as I can keep up with the English subtitles -- I asked myself was India, in fact, technologically capable of making a meaningful contribution to such a programme? Sure, their Chandrayaan-1 moon mission was an impressive achievement, discovering evidence for water, but could they really be expected to lift millions of pounds of components into geosynchronous orbit to build hundreds, even thousands of 5 km width solar arrays?

The answer is, in fact, yes. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has a series of launch vehicles; the largest being the GSLV III, now in development, will be capable of lifting 4,500kg (10,000 lbs) of payload into geosynchronous transfer orbit, putting it on a par with competing American and French launch vehicles. Importantly, it appears they can do it rather cheaply. The Chandrayaan-1 mission in 2008 cost just US$79 million.

And why should India or the United States even consider such an initiative, either alone or in partnership? Besides the fact that the Japanese are spending money on their own SBSP program and plan to have a 1 GW platform in orbit by 2030, you mean? Garretson takes pains to explain that it may, in fact, be the only choice the planet has to provide humanity with the clean, pollution-free, electric power it needs, especially in populous nations like India where 50-60% of it citizens will be living in cities by 2039. At present, India, as well as the United States, depends on coal-fired power plants for half of its electricl power generation capacity. It is estimated India's coal reserves will last 80 years, but Garretson points out that at a projected growth rate of just 5 percent a year, those reserves will be exhausted in 45 years; and this doesn't even address the critical problem of water shortages in India, water on which thermoelectric power plants, both fossil fuel and nuclear, are dependent.

So, why not simply build vast solar farms in India's Thar Desert, which stretches across the northwestern states of Rajasthan and Gujara, and occupies more than 2.5 million square kilometers? Efficiency and intermittency are why. All earth-bound solar installations suffer from the same problem: the sun shines on them only part of the day and the atmosphere -- and its associated weather -- reduce their efficiency even further. Space-based solar stations can provide solar power, transmitted back to earth in the form of low-frequency radio waves, 24 hours a day at the sun's maximum power rate of 1330+ watts per meter. At least that's the theory. Those same radio waves have to penetrate the atmosphere and its weather, be converted by circular farms of specially-designed rectenna's with 80 percent-plus efficiency back to electric power and then distributed to urban centers. In a footnote(14) on page 23 of Garretson's paper, it is estimated that only two percent of the energy transmitted down to earth would be lost in the form of heat, and that the type of radio wave being considered will have no or virtually no impact on humans or animals. He notes that, "NASA, DOE, and EPA have conducted extensive experiments to assess if there were ill effects to biological life or the upper atmosphere due to such beams. None of the studies conducted so far suggest that there is any significant detrimental effect."

Assuming all other objections and technical issues can be resolved, what's the potential of SBSP and what's its cost? Citing studies by James Snead and Harry Stine (footnote 10, page 22) Garretson estimates, "the exploitable energy in orbit exceeds not just the electrical demand of the planet today, but the total energy needs of a fully developed planet with over 10 billion people." As for the question of cost, Sky's No Limit estimates that the world currently spends $6 trillion on energy of all forms annually. Most of that energy produces highly undesirably pollution and climate change, which SBSP would not. Further, SBSP would make no environmental demands on the planet's freshwater supply.

The idea would certainly seem to have merit. Imagine an EV world where all our motor vehicles are powered by electricity transmitted from thousands of orbiting solar stations. However, moving such a project from the dreamer's stage to the schemer's stage will prove the first major obstacle to overcome. If nothing else, Sky's No Limit makes thought-provoking reading. It certainly opened my eyes to the state of technological development taking place in India beyond Tata Nanos, Revas and Hero electric bicycles.

New Space Energy Newsletter:
http://www.spaceenergy.com/AnnouncementRetrieve.aspx?ID=56424
It reviews the IDSA-CFR paper on Indo-US Space Solar Power cooperation.

Referred to as IDSA Occasional Paper No. 9, this paper provides a policymaker's overview of a highly scalable, revolutionary, renewable energy technology, Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP), and evaluates its utility within the context of the Indo-US strategic partnership. After providing an overview of the concept and its significance to the compelling problems of sustainable growth, economic development, energy security and climate change, it evaluates the utility of the concept in the context of respective Indian and US political and energy-climate trajectories. The paper concludes that a bilateral initiative to develop Space-Based Solar Power is highly consistent with the objectives of the Indo-US strategic partnership, and ultimately recommends an actionable three-tiered programme to realize its potential.

Peter Garretson's credentials are unparalleled. He was a Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), International Fellow in India, and a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) in New Delhi. He is an active duty Air Force officer on sabbatical as an Air Force Fellow. He was previously the Chief of Future Science and Technology Exploration for Headquarters Air Force, Directorate of Strategic Plans and Programs, and is a former DARPA Service Chiefs’ Intern, and former Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Service Academy Research Associate. He is a published author on Space Grand Strategy, and is a recipient of the National Space Society’s (NSS) Space Pioneer Award.

Owing to a 2008 law passed by Congress, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has until 15 October to decide which agency will be responsible for protecting the planet from an asteroid strike. Members of the task force say NASA expects to be given part or all of that responsibility. To meet it, the panel discussed the creation of a Planetary Protection Coordination Office (PPCO) within NASA, with an annual budget of $250 million–$300 million. It would detect and track asteroids — and develop a capability to deflect them. "You want to use a proven capability when you're talking about an actual threat," says Rusty Schweickart, a former astronaut and the other panel co-chair.

The PPCO would also challenge other countries to fund defence against asteroids, perhaps through the United Nations. Canada already plans to launch the NEO [near-earth objects] Survey Satellite in 2011, and Germany's AsteroidFinder is slated for launch in 2012, but neither is expected to come close to the NEO-logging goal by 2020.

The U.S. currently spends about $5.5 million per year to track NEO's and less than a million on researching ways to counter them, but is falling far short of asteroid-detection goals. Some might say that's already too much, given the more terrestrial problems the U.S. faces. On the other hand, the United States spends more than $1 billion -- the amount NASA says it needs to meet its goal of detecting all potentially dangerous objects by 2020 -- on far less lofty goals than saving humanity from the fate of the dinosaurs. Even an asteroid just one kilometer in diameter would be enough to cause worldwide crop failures and a shift in the earth's climate. One just a few meters wide could wipe out a major city.

But why, in this supposedly post-American world, is the United States expected to take the lead on this? Unlike, say, missile defense, asteroid detection and deterrence benefits all countries -- if NASA does detect a potentially dangerous asteroid, chances are it's probably going to hit somewhere else. And unlike global warming, smaller developing countries can't say that the United States should accept more of the blame for asteroids. (Though Hugo Chavez could certainly try.)

Scientists have been urging the United Nations to coordinate international asteroid detection efforts for years. But despite coordinating work by the the U.N. Office for Outer Space Affairs (yes, there is one), progress seems to be slow-going.

There are some promising signs of other powers starting to take the lead. The Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted a conference on international asteroid tracing earlier this year. Russia's space agency has also proposed a joint asteroid monitoring project with the European Union.

The good news is we probably have some time. An object big enough to wipe out a sizeable portion of the earth's population only hits about twice every million years. But the international community's recording in coordinating the international response to much more immediate dangers like global warming its not encouraging for those who would prefer not to rely on Bruce Willis or Morgan Freeman when the big one comes some day.

The paper examines the relevance of Space-Based Solar Power, a highly scalable, revolutionary, renewable energy technology in the context of the Indo-US strategic partnership. After providing an overview of the concept and its significance to the compelling problems of sustainable growth, economic development, energy security and climate change, it evaluates the utility of the concept in the context of respective Indian and US political context and long-term energy-climate trajectories. The paper examines multiple models of potential cooperation, and ultimately concludes that a bilateral initiative to develop Space-Based Solar Power is highly consistent with the objectives of the Indo-US strategic partnership, and ultimately recommends an actionable three-tiered program to realize its potential.

Gary Barnhard, Executive Director of the National Space Society, said, "This is a serious effort to articulate an agenda for Indo-US strategic partnership in space cooperation, clean energy, and climate change. This is a truly ambitious proposal that could top the Indo-US '123' civil nuclear deal in scope and significance. It's timing right before President Obama's visit could not be better, and we hope those developing his agenda are paying attention. Our hat is off to IDSA and CFR for sponsoring such visionary work in the policy realm that is likely to advance the interests of the United States, India, and the world. We are taking its recommendations very seriously in formulating our own initiative. Stay tuned."

Bangalore, Sep 13 – India and the US should explore the feasibility of a space-based solar power (SBSP) programme with the ultimate aim of putting in place a commercially viable system by 2025, a report by a defence ministry funded think tank says.

There is, however, a catch. India would first have to accede to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) before the system is put in place, says the report that has been prepared by Peter Garretson, a US Air Force lieutenant colonel on a sabbatical as an international fellow at the New Delhi-based Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA).

Noting that SBSP can be ‘the next major step in the Indo-US strategic partnership’, the 174-page report says the launch of such a potentially revolutionary programme can begin with a joint statement by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barak Obama during the latter’s visit to New Delhi in November.

Besides helping to ’solve the linked problems of energy security, development and climate change’, the SBSP will provide an opportunity for India to use its successful space programme while shaping a future peaceful space regime, Garretson said.

He has proposed a three-tiered programme, moving from basic technology and capacity building to a multi-lateral demonstrator and ultimately to an international commercial public-private-partnership entity to supply commercial power in the 2025 timeframe.

The report concludes that SBSP ‘does appear to be a good fit for the US domestic, Indian domestic and bilateral agendas, and there are adequate political space and precursor agreements to begin a bilateral program’.

Expanding on the three-stage plan, Garretson says an initial five-year $10-30 million programme will develop contributing technologies and build a competent work force culminating in a roadmap for a demonstration prototype.

A second, $10 billion, 10-year phase will see the formation of an international consortium to construct a sub-scale space solar power system that can directly be scaled up by industry. The final stage will entail India-US leadership to set up an international for-profit consortium along the lines of the INTELSAT model to address energy security and carbon mitigation concerns.

‘The overall program goal must be to enable, by 2025, space-based solar power as a viable economic replacement for fossil fuel energy, and second, to position the US and Indian technical and industrial bases to enjoy a competitive edge in what is expected to be a significant and profitable market,’ the report says.

Garretson says that the US and India have demonstrated via a number of recent steps that they are ready for a deeper partnership, inclusive of sensitive and strategic technology in space and energy.

‘An international SBSP demo project is within reach of present engineering and mega science budgets, and can be done with existing launch vehicles,’ he says.

From the US side, the programme can be managed out of the Department of State’s Office of Ocean Environment and Science with funds coming from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy. On the Indian side, the report says, the high-level oversight can be provided by the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change.

According to the report, such a programme linking the technical bases of the world’s largest democracies might be a way out of India’s (and the world’s) climate-energy dilemma.

‘It will also become one of the grandest and most ambitious humanitarian and environmentalist causes that will be sure to excite a generation as did the Apollo program that put a man on the moon,’ the report says.

‘If there is a desire to pursue simultaneous development of low cost access to orbit, then the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) assurance document must be signed (by India),’ the report says.

India has thus far resolutely declined to sign the MTCR, terming it discriminatory.

It is also important that direct engagement with United Nations governance bodies will be required, even before the demonstration stage, ‘to cope with the significantly increased traffic to and from and in space’, the report says.

From: http://www.kuffodog.com/blog/?p=86
Now for my hypothesis: The rotational speed of the Earth, amounted to thirty something hours per day (one full rotation) at the time when first humans appeared. This explains why to this day humans exhibit a natural tendency to establish an extended circadian rhythm when given free choice. This hypothetical change in rotational speed might be something worth investigating.The most obvious explanation for the increase in the Earth’s rotational speed that immediately comes to mind are collisions with asteroids. That serves as yet another reminder that a planetary defense system must be developed and the time to do so is running short.

The International Academy of Astronautics will hold itssecond conference on protecting our planet from impacts by asteroids and comets from 9 - 12 May 2011 in Bucharest, Romania.
The 2011 IAA Planetary Defense Conference: Protecting Earth from Asteroids, co-sponsored by the European Space Agency and The Aerospace Corporation, is the follow-on to three previous planetary defense conferences held in 2004 in Los Angeles and 2007 in Washington, D.C., and in 2009 in Granada, Spain. The theme for the conference is “From Threat to Action”.
The official conference website link is http://www.pdc2011.org.
For the upcoming conference in 2011, the call for papers is now open - for further details, see the menu item on the left on the official conference website.

From: http://science.discovery.com/tv/sci-fi-science/episodes.html Deep Impact
Airs Wednesday, September 8 at 10 PM E/P
Dr. Michio Kaku is on a mission to save planet Earth. Nearly 90 percent of the rocks in space are big enough to destroy our civilization. And it's not a question of if they'll hit our planet, but when. He shows what would happen if we really did use nuclear weapons to blow up an incoming asteroid and comes up with a safer, rocket-powered solution. Kaku meets up with Harvard's Professor Brian Marsden, who explains how a massive comet could smash into Earth without warning. To deal with the multiple threats, Kaku takes a lead from Star Wars and designs a system of laser-equipped Death Stars to zap the space rocks before they hit us.

It sounds like science fiction, but space-based solar power (SBSP) is quickly becoming a reality. “The idea has been around since the 1960s, but the technology was way behind the vision,” says William Maness, chief technology officer at SBSP company PowerSat. “Now we have computers the size of our watches and thin-film solar cells thinner than a piece of paper. The economics have changed.”

Several companies aim to capitalize on those technological innovations and the world’s growing interest in renewable energy. In January the California Public Utilities Commission green-lighted a power purchase agreement between Pacific Gas and Electric and Solaren Corp., which plans to produce 200 megawatts of SBSP by 2016, enough energy to power thousands of homes, says Cal Boerman, the company’s director of energy services. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency aims to generate 100,000 megawatts with SBSP by 2035. With projects also in the works in China and Europe, the quest to launch the first SBSP system is quickly becoming the next great space race.

Collecting energy in space offers significant advantages over ground-based systems. “The intensity of sunlight is about seven times higher in space, and you can get it 24/7,” says Marty Hoffert, cofounder of Versatility Energy, an SBSP company. With microwave systems, solar power can be beamed to earth even during cloudy days and inclement weather.

The biggest hurdle may be the price tag: Solaren’s project, for instance, will cost billions, with much of the expense coming from rocketing equipment. Some say the systems need to be more efficient, and the technology has yet to be demonstrated in space. Plus, beaming solar power at night will increase light pollution. “It seems like an exciting idea,” says Ken Zweibel, director of George Washington University’s Solar Institute. “[But] it’s impractical because it’s an order of magnitude or more in cost than terrestrial solar, and it’s unnecessary because terrestrial solar is going to work very well.”

“It will cost billions of dollars, but any nuclear plant of similar capacity costs the same,” counters Maness. “We can do something cleaner and get you the same amount of power.”

http://www.unexplainable.net/NASA/Large-Asteroids-Aren-t-A.shtml

Large Asteroids Not A Threat, Small Ones Are

By Chris Capps 9/9/10

While the idea of a large planet killing asteroid makes for a great film, the truth of the matter is, there's an ever slimming chance that Earth will be hit by one as astronomers chart more of the skies and find them to be exceedingly rare. On the other hand, several objects capable of wiping out entire cities do seem to exist and may pose a serious threat to the planet.

It doesn't seem the world will end any time soon in our lifetimes as planet killing asteroids no longer seem to be a real possibility. In 2004 the asteroid Apophis was considered the most likely object to impact Earth, and the asteroid was of sufficient size and speed that it could have disrupted the Earth in ways resulting in global destruction or at the very least massive Earth changing catastrophes in 2029 or 2036.

While some are still terrified of the potential approach of the Apophis asteroid, most scientists at NASA have declared the chances of the Apophis asteroid hitting Earth so small that it is likely not going to be a threat we will ever see in our lifetimes.

But there are many other asteroids, many capable of creating explosions powerful enough to level entire cities or hit the ocean and cause massive tsunamis. The incredible power of even a moderately sized asteroid is enough to disrupt the entire economic system and potentially put millions of lives in danger. Currently less than $5 million is dedicated to the search for dangerous incoming asteroids.

The topic is split largely into two categories of unhappy people. The first group suggests that five million dollars annually is a waste of money. They say an asteroid hasn't hit the Earth since 1901 during the Tunguska event and even then the chances of it impacting an inhabited area of the globe is remote at best. These people obviously want no research into a potential defense system against asteroids. The other group, those who fear a massive asteroid collision with Earth suggest that $5 million out of a massive defense budget which totals over $1.5 trillion annually. This group believes that a planet that spends most of its money on defense should have a better strategy at defending itself against the potential threat of an incoming asteroid.

If one were to take one third of the amount spent on military housing in the United States' Air Force, this would be more than sufficient for a planetary defense system scanning 90 percent of the skies as opposed to the current 10 percent.

So the good news means the Earth will not be destroyed entirely by a planet killing asteroid. At least the chance is infinitesimally small according to scientists. On the other hand, it's far more possible we will be hit by a smaller asteroid capable of causing quite a bit of damage but leaving most of the human race intact. Will we be sufficiently prepared in the event of an impact?

From: http://www.itwire.com/science-news/space/41752-nasa-considers-asteroid-impact-with-earth
NASA Weighs Asteroid Danger
Some time in the next decade, a US president will probably be presented with this dilemma: is it worth spending US$1 billion to deflect a space rock that may never hit Earth?
A NASA panel is wrestling with this question, which is growing more pertinent as scientists’ ability to find asteroids that pose a potential risk, termed near-Earth objects (NEOs), outstrips their capacity to track them accurately. The Ad-Hoc Task Force on Planetary Defense , set up to suggest ways for the agency to protect Earth against a deadly impact, is expected to release its report next month. But public deliberations and interviews with its members have revealed their thinking.
The dilemma stems from a 2005 congressional mandate directing NASA to log 90% of the estimated 20,000 NEOs larger than 140 metres in diameter by 2020. NASA seems unlikely to meet the goal, but the agency is stepping up its detection and tracking of smaller objects.
That will create a new problem: if the pace of NEO detections (see graph ) grows but precision tracking of orbits lags behind, observers will start to find more rocks ” perhaps a few per year ” that seem, at first, to have a significant chance of hitting Earth, say panel members. “I don’t think that issue has been understood outside the NEO community,” says Lindley Johnson, NEO programme officer at NASA and a member of the panel. Launching missions to track or deflect all potential asteroid threats will be prohibitively expensive, but even a small probability of regional or global devastation may not be politically palatable.
One solution from the panel is to increase the amount that the United States invests in NEO detection and tracking from the current $5.5 million a year. The panel may also recommend the launch of a survey telescope into a solar orbit similar to that of Venus. It would orbit faster than Earth and, looking outwards, would see asteroids in Earth-crossing orbits more often than would ground-based instruments (see diagram ). This could improve follow-up observations, narrow estimated trajectories and remove as many asteroids as possible from the threat list. It could also spot and track asteroids on the sunward side of Earth, removing a worrisome blind spot in ground-based surveys. “It is a wonderful rapid technique to track bodies down to 140 metres and smaller,” says Tom Jones, a former astronaut and panel co-chair.
Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation, a manufacturer of spacecraft based in Boulder, Colorado, has proposed building such a remote scope at a cost of $600 million. But Irwin Shapiro, an astrophysicist at the Harvard”Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who chaired the 2010 Committee to Review Near-Earth-Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies for the US National Research Council, says that ground-based observatories such as the planned Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) on Cerro Pachn in Chile are better value for money than space telescopes, because they last longer and are less expensive. He says the LSST is also more likely to command funding, as it is the top priority recommended by the Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey, released in August by the National Academies. Putting a space telescope in a Venus-like orbit “would in effect start from scratch”, he says.
Owing to a 2008 law passed by Congress, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has until 15 October to decide which agency will be responsible for protecting the planet from an asteroid strike. Members of the task force say NASA expects to be given part or all of that responsibility. To meet it, the panel discussed the creation of a Planetary Protection Coordination Office (PPCO) within NASA, with an annual budget of $250 million”$300 million. It would detect and track asteroids ” and develop a capability to deflect them. “You want to use a proven capability when you’re talking about an actual threat,” says Rusty Schweickart, a former astronaut and the other panel co-chair.
The PPCO would also challenge other countries to fund defence against asteroids, perhaps through the United Nations. Canada already plans to launch the NEO Survey Satellite in 2011, and Germany’s AsteroidFinder is slated for launch in 2012, but neither is expected to come close to the NEO-logging goal by 2020.
Shapiro stresses that it is unclear whether Congress will give further funds to planetary protection, noting that if it doesn’t, there is a risk of the money being taken away from space science. Yet without better detection and tracking there will inevitably be uncertainty about asteroid positions in the future ” and even greater expense if the uncertainty leads to unnecessary efforts to thwart an apparent pressing threat.

The Nature News article concludes with: “… [I]t is unclear whether Congress will give further funds to planetary protection, noting that if it doesn't, there is a risk of the money being taken away from space science. Yet without better detection and tracking there will inevitably be uncertainty about asteroid positions in the future — and even greater expense if the uncertainty leads to unnecessary efforts to thwart an apparent pressing threat.”

For more information on the detection, tracking, and deflection of near-Earth objects, please read the following.

In 2007 NASA presented this report (pdf file) to the U.S. Congress entitled “Near-Earth Object Survey and Deflection Analysis of Alternatives.”

They are defined "... based on parameters that measure the asteroid's potential to make threatening close approaches to the Earth. Specifically, all asteroids with an Earth Minimum Orbit Intersection Distance (MOID) of 0.05 AU or less and an absolute magnitude (H) of 22.0 or less are considered PHAs."

One AU (astronomical unit) is the average distance between Earth and the Sun -- about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers).

And, "In other words, asteroids that can't get any closer to the Earth (i.e. MOID) than 0.05 AU (roughly 7,480,000 km or 4,650,000 mi) or are smaller than about 150 m (500 ft) in diameter (i.e. H = 22.0 with assumed albedo of 13%) are not considered PHAs."

NASA states, "There are currently 1144 known PHAs."

And, "This "potential'' to make close Earth approaches does not mean a PHA will impact the Earth. It only means there is a possibility for such a threat. By monitoring these PHAs and updating their orbits as new observations become available, we can better predict the close-approach statistics and thus their Earth-impact threat."

10 September 2010

Terrific Video by Scott Manley showing how our Understanding of the threat has changed!

Here Are All the Asteroids That Have Been Discovered Since 1980
Wondering where all the asteroids are? Well, "up," obviously. But also, in this beautiful, hypnotic video that tracks asteroid discovery over the last 30 years. It's more engrossing than Armageddon, that's for sure. (Watching it in HD is best!)
From: http://gawker.com/5623181/here-are-all-the-asteroids-that-have-been-discovered-since-1980

More detail from Youtube:
Video Created by Scott Manley, this is a view of the solar system showing the locations of all the asteroids starting in 1980, as asteroids are discovered they are added to the map and highlighted white so you can pick out the new ones.
The final colour of an asteroids indicates how closely it comes to the inner solar system.Earth Crossers are Red
Earth Approachers (Perihelion less than 1.3AU) are Yellow
All Others are Green

Notice now the pattern of discovery follows the Earth around its orbit, most discoveries are made in the region directly opposite the Sun. You'll also notice some clusters of discoveries on the line between Earth and Jupiter, these are the result of surveys looking for Jovian moons. Similar clusters of discoveries can be tied to the other outer planets, but those are not visible in this video.

As the video moves into the mid 1990's we see much higher discovery rates as automated sky scanning systems come online. Most of the surveys are imaging the sky directly opposite the sun and you'll see a region of high discovery rates aligned in this manner.

At the beginning of 2010 a new discovery pattern becomes evident, with discovery zones in a line perpendicular to the Sun-Earth vector. These new observations are the result of the WISE (Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer) which is a space mission that's tasked with imaging the entire sky in infrared wavelengths.

The scale of the video at 1080P resolution is roughly 1million kilometers per pixel, and each second of video corresponds to 60 days.

Currently we have observed over half a million minor planets, and the discovery rates show no sign that we're running out of undiscovered objects, scientific estimates suggest that there are about a billion asteroids larger than 100metres (about the size of a football field) .

Orbital elements were taken from the 'astorb.dat' data created by Ted Bowell and associates at ftp://ftp.lowell.edu/pub/elgb/astorb.html

Music is 'Transgenic' by Trifonic: http://www.amazon.com/Emergence-Trifo... - they're awesome guys, give them some love.

Check out todays asteroid map at http://szyzyg.arm.ac.uk/~spm/neo_map....
Quite a few journalists, bloggers and tweeters are attributing this to NASA or Arecibo Observatory - while they do fine work they had nothing to do with this. If you write a story you can credit it to Scott Manley.

If you are needing a higher quality video or images for a specific purposes - education, news or just eye candy I can supply them on a case by case basis.

Two Asteroids Will Buzz the Earth Today, Extinction-Level Event Not Happening
Two asteroids are due to pass between the Earth and the orbit of the moon sometime today, but don't worry, we're (probably) not all going to die: "Neither of these objects has a chance of hitting Earth," says NASA.

The asteroids are due to pass by about 11 hours apart, and should be visible using "moderate-sized amateur telescopes," NASA said in a statement. One of the asteroids is thought to be between 33 and 65 feet wide, while the other is between 20 and 46 feet wide. Pretty harmless! And even though NASA says these two asteroids aren't going to destroy life on Earth as we know it, the agency has warned that a Planetary Defense Coordination Office needs to be established to prevent asteroids from destroying us in the future.

In the meantime, here is a not-very-exciting NASA asteroid tracker, which follows the asteroids from January up until today:

From: http://gawker.com/5632644/two-asteroids-will-buzz-the-earth-today-extinction+level-event-not-happening
Two Asteroids Will Buzz the Earth Today, Extinction-Level Event Not Happening

NASA to Do Armageddon, in Real Life

NASA to Do Armageddon, in Real LifeNASA would like to send a spacecraft to RQ36, the "mountain-size" asteroid expected to hit earth around 2182, to collect samples and map the asteroid. Be more budget-conscious, NASA! You could just rent Armageddon for a couple bucks instead. [NatGeo]

Zoom, zoom: Today two asteroids make close flybys of the Earth, passing inside the orbit of the moon. We’re in no danger, NASA says, but these close passes are a reminder that the United States and the world need to figure out how we’re going to catch an asteroid that could be on a collision course with our planet.

The larger asteroid, called 2010 RX30, passed by this morning. The smaller, 2010 RF12, is due for a pass at 5:12 p.m. Eastern time today. RF12, which is estimated to be between 20 and 46 feet in diameter, will come within about 50,000 miles of the Earth.

This is higher than communications satellites in geosynchronous orbit 22,369 miles (36,000 km) above Earth. On average, the moon is about roughly 238,600 miles (384,000 km) from Earth, so 2010 RF12 will pass by at nearly 0.2 of that lunar distance. [MSNBC]

The nearness of the afternoon asteroid should make it visible with a telescope. However, on its pass by the Earth it will be closest to Antarctica, CNN reports, hindering the ability of North Americans to see it.

NASA’s sky-watchers spotted these two objects on Sunday. According to Donald Yeomans, the head of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program, three days is actually pretty good warning considering how small they are, and our lookout capabilities.

“Things like this happen every day that we simply don’t know about because we don’t have the telescopes large enough to find them or surveys that are looking full-time,” he said. “This demonstrates the system’s working on some level, but we need larger telescopes and more of them to find objects that are coming this close.” [CNN]

Indeed, NASA’s ability to spot near-Earth objects (NEOs) lags behind the Congressional target: finding 90 percent of the NEOs that are 140 meters (about 460 feet) in diameter by 2020. Nature reports that NASA’s committee on what to do about this, the Ad-Hoc Task Force on Planetary Defense, is preparing to release its report in October.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has until 15 October to decide which agency will be responsible for protecting the planet from an asteroid strike. Members of the task force say NASA expects to be given part or all of that responsibility. To meet it, the panel discussed the creation of a Planetary Protection Coordination Office (PPCO) within NASA, with an annual budget of $250 million–$300 million. It would detect and track asteroids — and develop a capability to deflect them. [Nature]

The advisory panel also might recommend whether it would be better to develop a space-based telescope to watch for NEOs, or to invest in large ground-based telescopes that might cost less and last longer.

Related Content:
DISCOVER: The Asteroid Hunters, backyard astronomers who watch for armageddon
80beats: Danger, President Obama! Visiting an Asteroid Is Exciting, but Difficult
80beats: That Killer Asteroid You Heard About Yesterday? We Knew About It Last Year
80beats: Astronomers Announce Priorities: Dark Energy, Exoplanets, Cosmic Origins

Some time in the next decade, a US president will probably be presented with this dilemma: is it worth spending US$1 billion to deflect a space rock that may never hit Earth?

A NASA panel is wrestling with this question, which is growing more pertinent as scientists' ability to find asteroids that pose a potential risk, termed near-Earth objects (NEOs), outstrips their capacity to track them accurately. The Ad-Hoc Task Force on Planetary Defense, set up to suggest ways for the agency to protect Earth against a deadly impact, is expected to release its report next month. But public deliberations and interviews with its members have revealed their thinking.

The dilemma stems from a 2005 congressional mandate directing NASA to log 90% of the estimated 20,000 NEOs larger than 140 metres in diameter by 2020. NASA seems unlikely to meet the goal, but the agency is stepping up its detection and tracking of smaller objects.

“Missions to deflect all potential threats will be prohibitively expensive.”

That will create a new problem: if the pace of NEO detections (see graph) grows but precision tracking of orbits lags behind, observers will start to find more rocks — perhaps a few per year — that seem, at first, to have a significant chance of hitting Earth, say panel members. "I don't think that issue has been understood outside the NEO community," says Lindley Johnson, NEO programme officer at NASA and a member of the panel. Launching missions to track or deflect all potential asteroid threats will be prohibitively expensive, but even a small probability of regional or global devastation may not be politically palatable.

One solution from the panel is to increase the amount that the United States invests in NEO detection and tracking from the current $5.5 million a year. The panel may also recommend the launch of a survey telescope into a solar orbit similar to that of Venus. It would orbit faster than Earth and, looking outwards, would see asteroids in Earth-crossing orbits more often than would ground-based instruments (see diagram). This could improve follow-up observations, narrow estimated trajectories and remove as many asteroids as possible from the threat list. It could also spot and track asteroids on the sunward side of Earth, removing a worrisome blind spot in ground-based surveys. "It is a wonderful rapid technique to track bodies down to 140 metres and smaller," says Tom Jones, a former astronaut and panel co-chair.

Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation, a manufacturer of spacecraft based in Boulder, Colorado, has proposed building such a remote scope at a cost of $600 million. But Irwin Shapiro, an astrophysicist at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who chaired the 2010 Committee to Review Near-Earth-Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies for the US National Research Council, says that ground-based observatories such as the planned Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) on Cerro Pachón in Chile are better value for money than space telescopes, because they last longer and are less expensive. He says the LSST is also more likely to command funding, as it is the top priority recommended by the Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey, released in August by the National Academies. Putting a space telescope in a Venus-like orbit "would in effect start from scratch", he says.

Owing to a 2008 law passed by Congress, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has until 15 October to decide which agency will be responsible for protecting the planet from an asteroid strike. Members of the task force say NASA expects to be given part or all of that responsibility. To meet it, the panel discussed the creation of a Planetary Protection Coordination Office (PPCO) within NASA, with an annual budget of $250 million–$300 million. It would detect and track asteroids — and develop a capability to deflect them. "You want to use a proven capability when you're talking about an actual threat," says Rusty Schweickart, a former astronaut and the other panel co-chair.

ADVERTISEMENT
Nature Geoscience homepage

The PPCO would also challenge other countries to fund defence against asteroids, perhaps through the United Nations. Canada already plans to launch the NEO Survey Satellite in 2011, and Germany's AsteroidFinder is slated for launch in 2012, but neither is expected to come close to the NEO-logging goal by 2020.

Shapiro stresses that it is unclear whether Congress will give further funds to planetary protection, noting that if it doesn't, there is a risk of the money being taken away from space science. Yet without better detection and tracking there will inevitably be uncertainty about asteroid positions in the future — and even greater expense if the uncertainty leads to unnecessary efforts to thwart an apparent pressing threat.

From: http://www.jacktimes.com/science/asteriod-impact-expected-in-this-decade.html
NASA is constantly keeping an eye on the asteroid danger that is expected to make a very strong impact on the earth.

According to officials, it is expected that there will be a very strong impact on the US and the president will be informed about this dilemma.

They further stated that the investment of US$1 billion in order to make a space a rocket to deflect the asteroid so that it never hits the earth is an important and worthy step to take this minute.

The Ad-Hoc Task Force on Planetary Defense is working upon the issue lately and they are going to present a report next month setting up proposals for defense of earth.

The agency is doing detection taking over NASA’s job in order to detect all the Near Earth Objects (NEOs).
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/about/planetarydefense_taskforce_prt.htm